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Robert Brokamp: What should you do once it's gone? What if you don't have any more cash in the bank?

I'm going to lay out a few options and give the pros and cons, and depending on your situation,

one might be better than the other. The first one is to sell investments in regular taxable accounts.

If you have a regular brokerage account and you own stocks, just sell those.

The pros are it's pretty easy and pretty liquid. You'll get the cash pretty soon.

The market is down somewhat. Maybe it's a good time to do some tax loss harvesting.

You can sell a stock that is less than what you paid for it and wait 30 days to buy it back.

If you don't have the money, don't buy it back, but at least that will reduce your tax bill this year. That's a pro.

It's pretty easy to get that money.

The con is ideally you bought that investment as

a long-term investment and now you're going to have to sell it.

The market is down and that's one of the reasons why you want an emergency fund -- you're not

forced to sell stocks when they're down.

Plus, if you are selling at a gain you're going to owe taxes in a year.

If you sell an investment with a big capital gain, make sure you have a plan for paying those taxes.

You don't want to forget about it and then be surprised come April 15th, 2020.

Another option, of course, is credit cards.

Credit cards are easy because everyone takes them and if you are a federal employee and

you do expect to get your money back [they just passed a bill that says once people do

go back to work they will get their pay], a credit card is a good source of short-term money.

You just have to make sure you pay the bill. Maybe get some points for airline miles.

The cons are of all the debt you could owe, this has got the higher interest rate.

In December of last year the Fed raised interest rates.

Despite that, rates across the board in everything from Treasuries to mortgages went down with

one exception -- credit cards.

Credit card rates went up and they're now at all-time highs, according to CreditCards.com.

Alison Southwick: Really?

Brokamp: Yes, at least as long as they've been tracking it.

That's obviously the reason you want to avoid credit cards.

It is a short-term bridge, but it is not a long-term solution.

Another option is home equity, and for most people that's a home equity line of credit.

The pro is if you've got the equity you probably can get it.

There's some set-up costs, a credit check, and things like that, but it's usually not a big deal.

The interest rate will be much lower than what you pay on a credit card.

The con is you're using your house as collateral, which is always a tricky thing.

Also, due to the new tax law that was passed a year ago, the interest on a home equity loan

is no longer deductible unless you use it to improve your house.

If you're using it to cover short-term bills, that interest is no longer deductible.

I'm not a big fan of home equity lines of credit, but it's available.

Another option is to borrow from your employer-sponsored

retirement account -- your 401(k), your 403(b),

or in the case of federal employees, the thrift savings plan known as the TSP.

The pros are that it's pretty easy.

Even though it's called a loan, you're really just getting your own money, so there's no credit check.

You don't have to get a credit approval. Southwick: Rick and I know all about a 401(k) loan.

Brokamp: So you know how easy it is.

Southwick: It was so easy that when I asked Rick about

any aspect of the process, he was like, "I don't remember.

It must have been really easy because I don't remember."

Brokamp: It is easy. You're paying the interest to yourself and not to a bank.

Those are the pros.

The most you can borrow is $50,000 or half of your vested balance, whichever is less.

The cons are that money gets taken out of the market, so if the market takes off in

the course of this loan you'll miss out on that.

Also, if you don't pay off the loan, it's considered a distribution and you'll pay taxes

and penalties if you're not 59 and a half. Generally you have five years to do it.

Again, it's a fine short-term solution, but you have to have a plan to pay it back because

if you don't, not only will you pay the tax and the penalties, but you're going to miss out

on the future growth of what that money could have provided you if it were left alone in your 401(k).

I should say there recently was a bill proposed to make it easier for federal employees to

access the money in their TSP.

I haven't followed the details, yet, but know that that's also on the horizon for you folks.

Another option is your other retirement accounts like an IRA.

You can always access that money anytime.

Interestingly, if you take that money out and get it back in within 60 days, it's like

you never did anything.

While you legally cannot borrow money from an IRA, people refer to this as the "IRA loan." Take it out.

You've just got to make sure you get it back within 60 days.

Just a note of caution.

This is considered a rollover and there are some rules about rollovers, including a limit

to only one every 12 months.

So if you've already done it once and you try it again, it's considered a distribution.

You won't be able to put the money back in the IRA and you may owe taxes and penalties.

Make sure you learn all about the ins and outs before trying this strategy.

If you're taking money out of a Roth IRA and you don't get the money back in, the contribution

you put in will still be tax and penalty-free.

It's any growth you took out on which you'll pay taxes and penalties if you're not 59 and a half.

A traditional IRA -- if you take it out and don't get it back in you're going to pay taxes and penalties.

The negative there is the same as the 401(k).

If you don't pay it back you'll miss out on all that growth and your retirement will be compromised.

Southwick: Or maybe the stock market tanks.

Brokamp: That's true.

Southwick: Some people might time it very well, so let's try to look on the bright side.

Brokamp: That's right. Someone in this studio, in fact.

My last option is to borrow from family and friends.

If you are in a family where that's fine, it's not embarrassing, and it won't cause

any friction with folks, it's a perfectly good solution.

When I bought my first house it involved borrowing money from my dad who,

in the end, said, "You know what? Don't pay it back.

You just won't inherit as much when I eventually die."

I was happy with that. That's a great option if you can do it.

The cons of it are it can cause troubles.

Southwick: Borrowing money always can be difficult with family in keeping things fair.

Brokamp: And if you're not in a position of being able to pay it back, that causes problems.

Southwick: Is that Bro's last resort? Brokamp: It depends.

If you have a family where people are well off and have established, "If you're ever

in trouble I'm here to help you out," I think that's the first resort.

It's probably an interest-free loan and you don't have to go through all the other hassles.

Southwick: No paperwork. Brokamp: It just depends on your situation.

There you have it.

Building an emergency fund is the most boring of financial planning advice ever because

sitting on a big pile of cash just isn't very exciting; but right now there are hundreds

of thousands if not millions of Americans who either wish they had built an emergency fund

or are very happy they did.

Regardless of your situation, having one I think is really the foundation of a good, solid financial plan.

Southwick: And what's your advice for those who are furloughed and who will eventually get back pay?

They will eventually come into a big pile of money...

Brokamp: Right. Southwick: Do you have any advice for that?

Brokamp: Yes. Obviously if you've borrowed any money to do this...

Southwick: Pay it back! Brokamp: Pay it back.

If you've stopped contributing to your IRAs, 529s, or something like that get back on that track.

I think there could be a silver lining to this.

If you go without a paycheck for a while, it really forces you to prioritize your budget

and I think it's very possible you eliminate expenses that you thought were important and

then you realize you don't really need that.

Once you're back on a firmer footing, maybe you don't need cable anymore.

Maybe you didn't need a particular service.

Maybe you didn't need the gym membership like you thought you did.

But then once you get that cash don't go nuts.

Don't think now that you've got this big check you're going on vacation or anything like that.

Rule No. 1 is to build up that emergency fund.

Southwick: So start listening to this podcast episode all over again. Just rewind. It's a virtuous circle.

For more infomation >> What Should You Do if You Need Money Now? 401k Loans, Credit Cards, and Selling Investments - Duration: 9:05.

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What should electric cars sound like? | Renzo Vitale - Duration: 11:48.

Let's start with silence.

Silence is one of the most precious conditions for humans,

because it allows us to feel the depth of our presence.

This is one of the reasons why the advent of electric cars

has generated lots of enthusiasm among people.

For the first time, we could associate the concept of cars

with the experience of silence.

Cars can finally be quiet:

peace in the streets,

a silent revolution in the cities.

(Hum)

But silence can also be a problem.

The absence of sound, in fact, when it comes to cars,

it can be quite dangerous.

Think of blind people,

who can't see a car which is approaching.

And now, if it's electric, they can't even hear it.

Or think of every one of us as we are walking around the city,

we are absorbed in our thoughts, and we detach from the surroundings.

In these situations, sound can become our precious companion.

Sound is one of the most wonderful gifts of our universe.

Sound is emotion

and sound is sublime,

and when it comes to cars, sound is also information.

In order to protect pedestrians

and to give acoustic feedback to the drivers,

governments around the world have introduced several regulations

which prescribe the presence of a sound for electric vehicles.

In particular, they require minimum sound levels

at specific frequency bands

up to the speed of 30 kilometers per hour.

Besides this speed,

the natural noise of the car is considered as sufficient.

These regulations have generated different reactions

among those who favor sounds and those who fear the presence

of too much noise in the city.

However, I don't see it as the noise of the car.

I rather see it as the voice of the car.

And this is one of my biggest challenges, and privileges, at the same time.

I design the voice of electric cars.

We all know how a combustion engine sounds like,

and we do actually also know how an electric engine sounds like.

Think of the electric tramway.

As soon as it moves,

it creates this ascending high-frequency pitch sound,

which we called "whistling" sound.

However, if we would just amplify this sound,

we would still not be able to fulfill the legal requirements.

That's also why we need to compose new sound.

So how do we go after it?

In many cities, the traffic is already very chaotic,

and we don't need more chaos.

But the streets of the 21st century are a great case study

teeming with transience, cross purposes and disarray.

And this landscape offers a great opportunity

for developing new solutions on how to reduce this chaos.

I have conceived a new approach that tries to reduce the chaos

by introducing harmony.

Since many people don't know how an electric car could sound like,

I have to define, first of all, a new sound world,

something that doesn't belong to our previous experience

but creates a reference for the future.

Together with a small team, we create lots of sonic textures

that are able to transmit emotion.

Just like a painter with colors,

we are able to connect feelings and frequencies

so that whenever one is approaching a car,

we can feel an emotion

which, besides fulfilling the legal requirements,

speaks also about the character and the identity of the car.

I call this paradigm "sound genetics."

With sound genetics, I define, first of all, an aesthetic space of sound,

and at the same time, I search for new, innovative methods

for generating soundscapes that we don't know,

soundscapes that allow us to envision abstract worlds,

to make them tangible and audible.

Sound genetics is based on three steps.

The first one is the definition of a sonic organism,

the second one is a description of sonic variations,

and the third one is the composition of sound genes.

The description of a sonic organism is based on a cluster of properties

that every sound that I compose should have.

[Sound is moving.]

I transfer to a small sound entity, such as the sound of a car,

the power of the motion of music,

so that sound can move so.

[Sound is acting.]

And just like a dancer on a stage,

sound will project trajectories of sound in the air.

[Sound is memory.]

And it's not just about the sound of a car.

It's the memory of my father coming back home.

[Sound is hypnotizing.]

And sound has the power to create an unexpected sense of wonder,

which hypnotizes.

And ultimately,

[Sound is superhuman.]

sound goes beyond the human condition,

because it allows us to transcend.

As a second step, we define the sonic variations.

[Identity prism]

Just like humans, where different bodies generate different voices,

also different car shapes have a different acoustic behavior

which depends on the geometry and the materials.

So we have to know, first of all, how this car propagates the sound outside

by means of acoustic measurements.

And just like a single voice is able to produce different tones and timbres,

at the same time, we produce different sonic variations

within a space of eight words that I defined.

And some of them are, to me, really important,

such as the concept of "visionary,"

of "elegance," of "dynamic," of "embracing."

And once we have defined these two aspects,

we have what I call the identity prism,

which is something like the sonic identity card of a car.

And as a third step, we enter the world of the sound design,

where the sound genes are composed

and a new archetype is conceived.

Now let me show you another example

of how I transform a sound field into a melody.

Think that I am a violin player on stage.

If I would start to play the violin,

I would generate a sound field which would propagate in this hall,

and at some point, the sound field would hit the side walls

and would be scattered all over the place.

And this is how it looked like.

Some time ago, I captured several ways of sound to hit side walls.

And last year, I was asked by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

to compose ringtones that they were going to play.

So one of them, I had the idea to start from this sound field.

I took a section,

I superimposed the section over the distribution

of the musicians onstage,

and then I followed the blooming of the sound field

by means of three parameters:

time, intensity and frequency.

Then I wrote down all the gradients for each instrument,

and as you can see, for instance,

the piece will start with the string section playing very softly,

and then it's going to have a crescendo as the brasses, the woods will jump in,

and the melody will end with a harp and a piano

playing on the highest range.

Let's listen how it sounded like.

(Ethereal music)

(Music ends)

So this is the sound of my alarm clock, actually, in the morning.

(Laughter)

And now let's go back to electric cars.

And let's listen to the first example that I showed you.

(Hum)

And now I would like to show you how a potential sound,

based on the sound genetics for electric cars, could sound like.

(Ethereal music)

(Pitch rises with acceleration)

Cars are a metaphor of time, distance and journey,

of setting out and returning,

of anticipation and adventure,

but, at the same time, of intelligence and complexity,

of human intuition and accomplishment.

And the sound has to glorify all that.

I see cars both as living creatures

and as highly complex performative art installations.

The sounds that we envision through sound genetics

allow us not only to celebrate this complexity

but also to make the world a more elegant and safe space.

Thank you.

(Applause)